NOTES ON LIFE-SAVING APPLIANCES. 145 



life-saving appliances will cause those in command of vessels to become over-con- 

 fident or careless. 



I believe that the important lessons of the Titanic disaster are: — First, the nec- 

 essity of eternal vigilance on the part of the navigator as the price of safety. Second, 

 that naval architects and shipbuilders should make merchant ships, particularly 

 passenger steamers more secure against damage by collision, both in the way of 

 additional strength of construction and additional water-tight subdivision. Ships 

 can be made much safer than they are at present, although the day of the practically 

 indestructible ship has not yet arrived. Lastly, provide sufficient lifeboat ac- 

 commodation for everybody, but remember that when an accident to a vessel occurs 

 under severe weather conditions, such as are often met with in the North Atlantic, 

 particularly in winter, that many of the lifeboats provided are likely to have been 

 damaged even before they are launched, and that life in the boats would be so 

 unbearably hard that most people would prefer to go down with the ship rather 

 than attempt to go into the boats, even if it is not absolutely hopeless to attempt 

 to utilize them. 



Mr. Spencer Miller, Member: — Mr. Forbes' interesting paper deals chiefly 

 with davits and boats for life-saving, and the discussion on this paper has been 

 confined to them. 



Life-saving at sea is of paramount importance. Lloyds reported 562 ships 

 lost in 191 1 and, strangely enough, a corresponding number in 1910. With such 

 a loss of ships per annum surely there must be a great loss of life. According to the 

 statistics published by the Life-Saving Service in America, 62 per cent of all the 

 ships having casualties at sea during the year 191 1 occurred when the sea was 

 rough, too rough, in fact, to permit the employment of any ship's lifeboat. It 

 may, therefore, be confidently asserted that in more than half of the circumstances 

 where life-saving applicances are needed at all the ship's lifeboats cannot be used. 



Are we not led to regard the hfeboat as a reliable life-saving appliance because 

 so successfully employed by shore life-saving crews? The surf lifeboat is manned 

 by picked crews. They are masters of surfmanship. The work of rescue effected 

 by these men is one of the marvels of the day. The common ship's lifeboats have 

 no such crews nor is it practicable to have heavy sea drills at sea. 



Since the advent of the wireless telegraph, laws have been framed in nearly 

 all civilized countries demanding that passenger carrying steamships be equipped 

 with the wireless telegraph. Furthermore, the law requires that ships shall respond 

 to calls for help. Every passenger ship, therefore, becomes a life-saving ship and 

 should be equipped with the most approved appliances for effecting rescues in a 

 heavy sea. 



When a wireless call comes for help the steamer proceeds to the rescue, but 

 when it arrives, in more than half the instances it is unable to render assistance 

 because it has no implements to employ in a heavy sea. 



It is right here that I desire to speak on behalf of a new marine breeches buoy 



